长白山高山苔原带雪斑地段牛皮杜鹃群落的土壤氮矿化与净初级生产力

采用土壤温度连续观测和土壤原位培养,研究了长白山高山苔原带雪斑地段牛皮杜鹃群落的土壤温度、土壤氮矿化及净初级生产力.结果表明: 在非生长季的积雪期(10月下旬-5月上旬),土壤养分呈上升趋势,土壤以氮矿化为主,为翌年植物的生长提供了充足的氮素.其中雪斑地段土壤(平均温度-3.0 ℃)的氮矿化能力更强,速效氮增加量为3.88 g·m^-2,非雪斑地段(平均温度-7.5 ℃)为1.21 g·m^-2. 在生长季节(5月中旬-8月下旬),土壤氮素含量下降,以固持为主;秋季植物停止生长后,土壤速效氮又呈上升趋势;到冬季,由于积雪的作用,雪斑地段土壤温度维持在0 ℃左右或略低,促进了土壤氮的矿化,而非雪斑地段土壤温度则处于冻结状态.氮素矿化能力的差异是雪斑地段牛皮杜鹃群落净初级生产力高于非雪斑地段群落的主要原因,也是植被空间分异的重要驱动因子.     

季节性雪被对高山生态系统土壤氮转化的影响

在高山生态系统中,季节性雪被对土壤氮含量及转化有着重大影响.降雪是氮沉降的一种重要形式,直接影响着土壤中的有效氮含量;降雪形成不同厚度和持续期的雪被后,造成环境因子(土壤温度和含水量)和生物因子(土壤微生物、高山植物和高山动物)的异质性,进而对土壤中氮素矿化和微生物固持过程产生复杂的影响.本文重点介绍了持续性雪被消融期冻融交替影响土壤氮素矿化和流失的机制,并针对高山地区未来季节性雪被可能发生的变化,综述了野外原位模拟实验的主要研究成果,最后提出了开展季节性雪被对土壤氮影响研究的一些建议.     

牦牛夏季补饲对青藏高原高寒草甸植物群落和土壤特性的影响

由于气候变化与人类活动的共同作用,青藏高原草地不断退化,草畜矛盾日趋严重,限制着高原畜牧业的可持续发展。夏季补饲可以加快牦牛生产速率、提高出栏率,减小草地放牧压力,是实现草地可持续发展的重要措施之一,但夏季补饲如何影响草地生态系统功能仍不明晰。以高寒草甸为研究对象,以牦牛为放牧实验家畜,设置夏季补饲放牧(FG)、传统重度放牧(TG)和禁牧(NG)3个放牧处理,每个处理设置3个重复。两年补饲试验后的结果表明:夏季补饲减缓传统放牧降低植物群落 α多样性的趋势;夏季补饲与传统放牧均降低了植物群落生物量;传统放牧表层土壤pH 和硝态氮均显著小于禁牧,但夏季补饲减弱了这些变化;夏季补饲显著降低了20-30 cm土层有机碳;夏季补饲增加了土壤表层磷含量。本研究表明夏季补饲放牧具有降低传统放牧压力的潜力,为保护和管理青藏高原高寒草甸生态系统提供重要的科学依据,并为改善牦牛的夏季饲养管理提供参考。     

Functional traits determine tree growth and ecosystem productivity of a tropical montane forest: Insights from a long‐term nutrient manipulation experiment

Trait‐response effects are critical to forecast community structure and biomass production in highly diverse tropical forests. Ecological theory and few observation studies indicate that trees with acquisitive functional traits would respond more strongly to higher resource availability than those with conservative traits. We assessed how long‐term tree growth in experimental nutrient addition plots (N, P, and N + P) varied as a function of morphological traits, tree size, and species identity. We also evaluated how trait‐based responses affected stand scale biomass production considering the community structure. We found that tree growth depended on interactions between functional traits and the type or combination of nutrients added. Common species with acquisitive functional traits responded more strongly to nutrient addition, mainly to N + P. Phosphorous enhanced the growth rates of species with acquisitive and conservative traits, had mostly positive effects on common species and neutral or negative effects in rare species. Moreover, trees receiving N + P grew faster irrespective of their initial size relative to trees in control or to trees in other treatment plots. Finally, species responses were highly idiosyncratic suggesting that community processes including competition and niche dimensionality may be altered under increased resource availability. We found no statistically significant effects of nutrient additions on aboveground biomass productivity because acquisitive species had a limited potential to increase their biomass, possibly due to their generally lower wood density. In contrast, P addition increased the growth rates of species characterized by more conservative resource strategies (with higher wood density) that were poorly represented in the plant community. We provide the first long‐term experimental evidence that trait‐based responses, community structure, and community processes modulate the effects of increased nutrient availability on biomass productivity in a tropical forest.     

Ecosystem allometry: the scaling of nutrient stocks and primary productivity across plant communities

A principal challenge in ecology is to integrate physiological function (e.g. photosynthesis) across a collection of individuals (e.g. plants of different species) to understand the functioning of the entire ensemble (e.g. primary productivity). The control that organism size exerts over physiological and ecological function suggests that allometry could be a powerful tool for scaling ecological processes across levels of organization. Here we use individual plant allometries to predict how nutrient content and productivity scale with total plant biomass (phytomass) in whole plant communities. As predicted by our model, net primary productivity as well as whole community nitrogen and phosphorus content all scale allometrically with phytomass across diverse plant communities, from tropical forest to arctic tundra. Importantly, productivity data deviate quantitatively from the theoretically derived prediction, and nutrient productivity (production per unit nutrient) of terrestrial plant communities decreases systematically with increasing total phytomass. These results are consistent with the existence of pronounced competitive size hierarchies. The previously undocumented generality of these 'ecosystem allometries' and their basis in the structure and function of individual plants will likely provide a useful quantitative framework for research linking plant traits to ecosystem processes.     

雪被去除对川西高山冷杉林冬季土壤微生物生物量碳氮和可培养微生物数量的影响

为了解气候变暖情景下雪被减少对冬季土壤微生物特征的影响,采用人工遮雪的方法,研究了雪被去除对原始冷杉林土壤微生物生物量和可培养微生物数量的影响.结果表明:雪被去除显著影响土壤微生物生物量碳(MBC)和氮(MBN)以及可培养细菌和真菌数量,但土壤微生物在雪被覆盖不同阶段具有不同的响应特征.在雪被去除处理下,土壤有机层MBC和MBN在雪被形成初期和雪被融化前期显著降低,而在雪被覆盖期和雪被融化后期显著增加;在雪被形成初期至雪被覆盖期,可培养细菌数量都显著降低,但可培养真菌数量都显著增加.雪被融化后,雪被去除显著降低土壤有机层MBC和可培养真菌数量,显著增加可培养细菌数量,对MBN无显著影响.矿质土壤层MBC、MBN和可培养微生物数量在雪被去除下的变化趋势与土壤有机层基本一致,但波动较小.雪被去除还改变了川西高山冷杉林冬季土壤微生物类群比,提高了土壤可培养真菌数量的冬季优势.     

雪被去除对川西高山森林冬季土壤温度及碳、氮、磷动态的影响

气候变暖导致的雪被动态格局变化可能深刻影响高山森林生态过程.为了解气候变暖背景下雪被的减少对川西高山森林土壤生态过程的影响,2009年10月19日-2010年5月18日,采用遮雪方法,研究了雪被去除对该区冷杉原始林土壤温度和碳、氮、磷的影响.结果表明:雪被去除加大了土温日变化幅度和冻融循环频次,使土壤冻结和融化时间提前.雪被去除使土壤可溶性碳和可溶性氮、有效磷、铵态氮和硝态氮冬季含量高峰提前到雪被覆盖期;雪被覆盖期至融化期的可溶性碳和氮及硝态氮含量增加,但有效磷和铵态氮含量降低,改变了其组分比例.气候变暖引起的川西高山森林雪被减少将改变土壤外部环境条件,进而影响土壤碳、氮和磷过程.     

The interactive effects of nitrogen addition and increased precipitation on gross ecosystem productivity in an alpine meadow

氮水添加对高寒草甸生态系统生产力的影响 降水变化和大气氮沉降增加对草原生态系统碳交换具有重要的影响,进而影响草地生产力、群落组成和生态系统功能。然而,氮水添加对高寒草甸生态系统碳交换的影响目前尚不清楚。因此,本研究在青藏高原高寒草甸布设氮水添加试验,设置4种不同处理：对照、 加氮、加水和同时添加氮水,对生态系统碳交换过程进行了连续4年的原位观测。研究结果发现,氮添加可以增加总生态系统生产力(GEP)、植物地上生物量、群落盖度和群落加权平均高度(CWMh),而水分添加没有显著影响。生态系统碳交换对氮水添加的响应在干湿年存在显著差异。水分添加仅在干旱年对净生态系统碳交换(NEE)具有显著影响,原因是GEP的增加量大于生态系统呼吸(ER)。相反,氮添加仅在湿润年显著提高了生态系统碳交换,其中GEP的增加归因于NEE的增加量大于ER。结构方程结果表明,氮添加主要通过增加优势种的盖度从而提高NEE。本研究强调了降水和优势物种在调节高寒草甸生态系统响应环境变化中的重要作用。     

The roles of stochasticity and biotic interactions in the spatial patterning of plant species in alpine communities

Questions

Plant community composition can be influenced by multiple biotic, abiotic, and stochastic factors acting on the local species pool to determine their establishment success and abundance and subsequently the diversity of the community. We asked if the influences of biotic interactions on the composition of plant species in communities, as indicated by patterns of plant species spatial associations (independent, positive or negative), vary across a productivity gradient within a single ecosystem type. Do dominant species of communities show spatial patterning suggestive of competitive interactions with interspecific neighbors? Do species that span multiple community types exhibit the same heterospecific interactions with neighbours in each community?

Location

Three alpine communities in the southern Rocky Mountains.

Methods

We measured the occurrence of species in a 1‐cm spatial grid within 2 m × 2 m plots to determine the spatial patterns of species pairs in the three communities. A null model of independent species spatial arrangements was used to determine whether species pairs were positively, negatively or independently associated, and how these patterns differed among the communities across the gradient of resource supply and environmental stress.

Results

Positive associations, indicative of facilitation between species, were most common in the most resource‐poor and least productive community. However negative associations, suggestive of competitive interactions among species, were not more common in the two more resource‐rich, productive communities. The dominant species of these communities did exhibit higher negative than positive associations with neighbours relative to positive patterning. Independent interspecific patterning was equally common relative to positive and negative patterns in all communities. Species that previously were shown to either facilitate other species or compete with neighbours exhibited spatial patterning consistent with the earlier experimental work.

Conclusions

A large number of species exhibit a lack of net biotic interactions, and stochastic factors appear to be as important as competition and facilitation in shaping the structure of the three alpine plant communities we studied.

     

Fitness consequences of floral variation in Senecio jacobaea (Asteraceae): evidence from a segregating hybrid population and a resource manipulation experiment

The present study examines some of the ecological factors that might exert selection on floral morphology in Senecio jacobaea , a self-sterile composite which exhibits geographic variation in the frequency of rayed and discoid individuals. Regression analyses of phenotypic data from a large, segregating hybrid population, established in a semi-natural (garden) environment and studied over a 2-year period, revealed a negative relationship between the size of the rays and the average germination rate of the maternal seed crop, a pattern that can be attributed to the reduced germination speed of achenes from ray florets. There was no effect of ray size on the amount of cross-pollination achieved, the proportion of heads infested by larvae of seed flies ( Pegohylemyia ) and the amount of resources retained for the next flowering season. The lack of resource costs was also apparent in a manipulation experiment with greenhouse-grown plants of the rayed phenotype: artificial removal of all rays at the early bud or flowering stage had no detectable effect on subsequent flower and fruit development, regardless of whether the plants experienced high or low water stress. Given these and other observations, I hypothesize that plant-animal interactions and resource costs sometimes play a minor role in exerting selection on flower morphology and that spatially varying selection on germination behaviour accounts for some of the morph frequency variation in S. jacobaea.     

高寒草甸不同草地类型功能群多样性及组成对植物群落生产力的影响

对不同类型草地功能群多样性和组成与植物群落生产力之间的关系进行了探讨。结果表明：(1)在矮嵩草(Kobresia humlis)草甸和金露梅(Potentilla froticosa)灌丛中,豆科植物的作用比较明显,而其他功能群植物的作用较弱。(2)在藏嵩草(Kobresia tibetica)沼泽化草甸和小嵩草(K．pygmaca)草甸中,虽然杂类草、C3植物和莎草科植物功能群的生产力占群落初级生产力的比例较大,但二者在统计上没有显著性差异,这表明群落生产力除受物种多样性的影响外,也受物种本身特征和环境资源的影响,更主要的是受到功能群内物种密度和均匀度的影响,即功能群组成比功能群多样性更能说明对生态系统过程的影响。(3)不同类型草地群落植物功能群盖度与群落初级生产力呈显著的线性相关。(4)不同类型草地群落生产力与功能群内物种数的变化均表现为单峰曲线关系,即功能群内物种数处于中间水平时,群落生产力最高。     

Clinging on to alpine life: Investigating factors driving the uphill range contraction and population decline of a mountain breeding bird

Climate change and anthropogenic nitrogen deposition are widely regarded as important drivers of environmental change in alpine habitats. However, due to the difficulties working in high‐elevation mountain systems, the impacts of these drivers on alpine breeding species have rarely been investigated. The Eurasian dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) is a migratory wader, which has been the subject of uniquely long‐term and spatially widespread monitoring effort in Scotland, where it breeds in alpine areas in dwindling numbers. Here we analyse data sets spanning three decades, to investigate whether key potential drivers of environmental change in Scottish mountains (snow lie, elevated summer temperatures and nitrogen deposition) have contributed to the population decline of dotterel. We also consider the role of rainfall on the species' wintering grounds in North Africa. We found that dotterel declines—in both density and site occupancy of breeding males—primarily occurred on low and intermediate elevation sites. High‐elevation sites mostly continued to be occupied, but males occurred at lower densities in years following snow‐rich winters, suggesting that high‐elevation snow cover displaced dotterel to lower sites. Wintering ground rainfall was positively associated with densities of breeding males two springs later. Dotterel densities were reduced at low and intermediate sites where nitrogen deposition was greatest, but not at high‐elevation sites. While climatic factors explained variation in breeding density between years, they did not seem to explain the species' uphill retreat and decline. We cannot rule out the possibility that dotterel have increasingly settled on higher sites previously unavailable due to extensive snow cover, while changes associated with nitrogen deposition may also have rendered lower lying sites less suitable for breeding. Causes of population and range changes in mountain‐breeding species are thus liable to be complex, involving multiple anthropogenic drivers of environmental change acting widely across annual and migratory life cycles.     

氮磷添加对昆仑山北坡高山草地N2O排放的影响

氮(N)、磷(P)等养分添加是提高草地生态系统生产力的重要策略, 但其对土壤氧化亚氮(N₂O)排放的影响尚不明确。该研究以南疆昆仑山北坡高山草地为研究对象, 设置氮添加、磷添加、氮磷交互以及不施肥(CK) 4个处理, 采用静态箱-气象色谱法连续监测2017年生长季草地的N₂O排放, 研究不同氮、磷添加处理下的N₂O排放特征, 并利用Pearson相关分析对影响N₂O排放的主要环境因子进行定性识别及定量解析。结果表明: 氮添加处理与氮磷交互处理在施肥后约3周引起显著的N₂O排放峰, 分别为42.3和15.4 g N·hm ^-2·d ^-1。与其他处理相比, 氮添加处理生长季N₂O排放通量显著增加了1.8-3.2倍, 而磷添加以及氮磷交互处理与CK之间没有显著差异。Pearson相关分析结果表明: N₂O排放与微生物生物量碳呈负相关关系, 与溶解性有机碳含量、pH值呈正相关关系, 而与其他环境因子关系不显著。以上结果表明, 与单施氮肥相比, 在该地区草场采用氮磷混施可显著减少N₂O的排放。     

The effects of some soil properties (soil nitrogen forms and moisture) on community structure in Mediterranean plant communities in the Black Sea region

Mediterranean ecosystems comprise the second biodiversity hotspot area after tropical rain forests and will be most affected by global climate change. Therefore, it is important to understand community dynamics for effective conservation in this region. We investigated the relationships between soil moisture, nitrogen forms and community structuring in Quercus ilexL., Erica arborea L. and Sarcopoterium spinosum (L.) Spach communities, representing different successional stages, distributed as Mediterranean enclaves on the Sinop Peninsula (Turkey). The soil moisture, ammonium, nitrate and nitrite content were measured seasonally. Differences in these abiotic parameters within and between communities over seasons were tested. Previously collected biotic data were then used to analyze the relationship between soil parameters and community structure. Significant differences in soil parameters within and between seasons were found within and between communities. Our results show that there are different relationships between soil moisture, nitrogen forms and community structure in Mediterranean plant communities representing different successional stages. Differentiation in vegetation structure during succession cause changes especially in the water and nitrate content of the soil, and these changes in turn affect the continuity of community structure in Mediterranean plant communities.     

Methane emission by plant communities in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: a new experimental study of alpine meadows and oat pasture

Recently, plant-derived methane (CH₄) emission has been questioned because limited evidence of the chemical mechanism has been identified to account for the process. We conducted an experiment with four treatments (i.e. winter-grazed, natural alpine meadow; naturally restored alpine meadow eight years after cultivation; oat pasture and bare soil without roots) during the growing seasons of 2007 and 2008 to examine the question of CH₄ emission by plant communities in the alpine meadow. Each treatment consumed CH₄ in closed, opaque chambers in the field, but two types of alpine meadow vegetation reduced CH₄ consumption compared with bare soil, whereas oat pasture increased consumption. This result could imply that meadow vegetation produces CH₄. However, measurements of soil temperature and water content showed significant differences between vegetated and bare soil and appeared to explain differences in CH₄ production between treatments. Our study strongly suggests that the apparent CH₄ production by vegetation, when compared with bare soil in some previous studies, might represent differences in soil temperature and water-filled pore space and not the true vegetation sources of CH₄.     

芦苇克隆整合对石油污染湿地土壤微生物群落结构和生物量的影响

克隆植物形体相连的无性个体(分株)之间可以进行水分、养分和光合产物的传递和共享,并且这种克隆整合可以显著提高分株对环境胁迫的耐受能力,从而可能进一步影响分株周围的土壤微生物群落结构和生物量。尽管国内外已经开展了大量有关克隆整合对分株耐受胁迫能力影响的研究,但克隆整合对土壤微生物群落结构和生物量影响的研究却十分缺乏。以黄河三角洲芦苇(Phragmites australis)湿地生态系统为研究对象,将直径60 cm的圆形样方进行三个水平的石油添加处理(不添加石油或每年添加5 mm或10 mm厚的石油),同时通过切断或不切断样方内外芦苇根状茎的连接来控制克隆整合的有无。实验连续开展了两年(2014—2015年),每年8月份在样方内进行土壤样品取样,在实验室内采用磷酸脂肪酸(PLFA)法测定土壤微生物总量及主要微生物类群含量,并测定土壤微生物生物量碳和氮含量。取样时间显著影响土壤微生物PLFA总量、微生物碳和氮含量,这3个变量在2015年均显著高于2014年。石油添加在2015年显著增加了土壤微生物PLFA总量,但在2014年却无显著效应;同时,石油添加在2014年降低了土壤微生物碳和氮含量,而在2015年却增加了其含量。然而,无论在2014年还是2015年,芦苇的克隆整合对土壤微生物PLFA含量、微生物碳和氮含量均没有显著影响。土壤微生物PLFA总量与土壤微生物碳和氮含量呈正相关关系。这些结果表明,石油污染可以显著影响湿地土壤微生物动态,但克隆整合却无显著效应。     

Defoliation of a grass is mediated by the positive effect of dung deposition,moss removal and enhanced soil nutrient contents: results from a reindeer grazing simulation experiment

Herbivory is one of the key drivers shaping plant community dynamics. Herbivores can strongly influence plant productivity directly through defoliation and the return of nutrients in the form of dung and urine, but also indirectly by reducing the abundance of neighbouring plants and inducing changes in soil processes. However, the relative importance of these processes is poorly understood. We, therefore, established a common garden experiment to study plant responses to defoliation, dung addition, moss cover, and the soil legacy of reindeer grazing. We used an arctic tundra grazed by reindeer as our study system, and Festuca ovina, a common grazing‐tolerant grass species as the model species. The soil legacy of reindeer grazing had the strongest effect on plants, and resulted in higher growth in soils originating from previously heavily‐grazed sites. Defoliation also had a strong effect and reduced shoot and root growth and nutrient uptake. Plants did not fully compensate for the tissue lost due to defoliation, even when nutrient availability was high. In contrast, defoliation enhanced plant nitrogen concentrations. Dung addition increased plant production, nitrogen concentrations and nutrient uptake, although the effect was fairly small. Mosses also had a positive effect on aboveground plant production as long as the plants were not defoliated. The presence of a thick moss layer reduced plant growth following defoliation. This study demonstrates that grasses, even though they suffer from defoliation, can tolerate high densities of herbivores when all aspects of herbivores on ecosystems are taken into account. Our results further show that the positive effect of herbivores on plant growth via changes in soil properties is essential for plants to cope with a high grazing pressure. The strong effect of the soil legacy of reindeer grazing reveals that herbivores can have long‐lasting effects on plant productivity and ecosystem functioning after grazing has ceased.